GENERAL
Kushner Denies Claims in Matthew Cole Book Excerpt That Dutch Government Hacked His Phone
An excerpt from a book by Matthew Cole, published by Vanity Fair, alleges Dutch authorities hacked Jared Kushner's phone and saw transfers from a Dubai bank account. Kushner's side calls the claims false and says no evidence was offered.
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A book excerpt by journalist Matthew Cole makes serious claims about Jared Kushner and a Dubai bank account. Kushner's side flatly denies them. The excerpt was published by Vanity Fair, and the denial was shared in a post on X.
In the excerpt, Cole says a source he knew to be reliable called him in late spring 2020. The source said the Dutch government had hacked into Kushner's phone and watched him access a bank account in Dubai. Cole writes that the money in the account, hundreds of millions of dollars, had come from a bank in Azerbaijan.
The source also claimed Kushner appeared to have moved large amounts from that account to other people, including a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man. Cole says he told the source the story sounded preposterous. He adds, "And yet."
About six months later, Cole writes, he was talking with someone else about the UAE government's use of mercenaries in conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. On a whim, he asked whether they knew anything about Kushner and bank transfers from a UAE account. His acquaintance went quiet, he writes, and then answered, "Yes."
Kushner's lawyer denied that the bank account existed. The response attributed to Kushner's side goes much further. It calls the book's allegations "outrageous and categorically false" and says every claim was denied on the record.
The response also says the author gave no verifiable evidence. It lists what was missing: bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers and transaction dates. It says the claims "never happened" and criticizes Vanity Fair for publishing them without independent verification, calling the piece "fiction being presented as fact."